First of all, global competitiveness is of course very key and we've learned a lot about why the United States is so competitive and in particular why this valley has added so much to America's global competitiveness.  But we also have been here because we're interested in the new technologies of the new green revolution.  The ability to wean ourselves from hydrocarbons, to begin to look to alternative energy sources, to -- we saw a wonderful electric car demonstration.  We've seen at Hewlett Packard the work that's being done on energy efficiency.  And so as we look to the future of trying to be less dependent on current energy sources, but also to be good stewards of the environment and to address the problems of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. 

It's been heartening to be here and to see what is going on in this valley.  And the way that it is being literally fueled not just by great ideas, which are very much a part of this valley, but also the willingness of the private sector to invest in those great ideas and to help them come to market so that consumers and business can themselves be less dependant on current energy sources that begin to transition to alternative fuels and also be good stewards of the environment.  So it's been a great trip thus far.  And I want to thank Alexander for having spent the time with me. 

Minister.

FOREIGN MINISTER DOWNER:  Well, thanks very much.  I just want to say that this morning has been a really fascinating morning.  I've been enormously impressed with what I've seen at a couple of companies.  Like Condi, I enjoyed the sports car very much.  (Laughter.)  And -- but we weren't able to drive it ourselves.  But in any case, I think what's impressed me is the relationship between the university, particularly Stanford University here, but between the universities and technology in the private sector, I think that's most impressive.  There's no doubt about it that however the investment has occurred and there are all sorts of issues behind that, but the massive investment in universities here has been a tremendous boon to the economy.  So government hasn't actually -- listening to Floyd's talk, he was saying, he'd like to say a bit about what government's done.  I was thinking there were going to be all sorts of subsidies and bonuses and, you know, and legislative tax breaks and things like that.  But in fact probably the greatest thing that's happened in America is a combination of the massive investment that has been in education coupled with the entrepreneurial spirit of the country. 

And I guess we have a lot of that in Australia. We're just upgrading very substantially our investment in tertiary education and we need to keep doing that.  We've had very much the British model of universities and we need to put more investment into our universities, good as they are.  But we do have people with the entrepreneurial spirit that has led Australia to be a country that has very enthusiastically embraced new technologies, whatever those technologies have been.  And if you look at the OECD charts of implementation of new technologies, you'll find Australia always up near or at the top and take-up rates of everything from originally telephones through to modern information and communications technologies have been enormously high.

And so I think for a lot of you, Australia represents a very good partner, an extremely successful and rich economy and an entrepreneurial society and enthusiasm for technological development.  We need it in any case in Australia because we have 21 million people spread over 3 million square miles, 7 million square kilometers.  And we are distant from other countries, including the United States, and so the information and communications technology revolution has been a great thing for us.  It's drawn our country much more into the mainstream of the world than it would have been before the advent of that technology.  And so we have a particular national interest in focusing on it.

The last thing I'd say is that whatever governments say, consumers' taste and consumers' interest is going to be ultimately what drives the market and consumers are increasingly interested in environmental issues.  They're interested in clean air.  I mean, I'm with them; we're all interested in it.  They're interested in clean air.  They're concerned about C02 emissions and the impact of the C02 emissions might have on climate change and so the list goes on.  If these environmental problems are going to be solved, they're not just going to be solved by government fiat, by government regulation, by governments passing thousands of new laws.  They're going to be solved by technology.  And we saw that today with the electric car, with a pretty good range of, what, 200 miles, for an electric car that's impressive and you can still get sports car performance with virtually no C02 emissions.  So we are seeing a very exciting, if you like, technology revolution driven by consumer preferences and interests and fashions and desires and that's important. 

So I've seen today what I think is a fantastic display of technology and a wonderful university.  And I know that we are doing a lot of these things ourselves in Australia and we look forward to partnering with more and more of you and particularly encouraging you to invest in Australia in the years ahead.

So thanks very much.

2007/T8-7